OPINION:
On Ukrainian Independence Day, Aug. 24, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a law prohibiting religious organizations tied to the Russian state. More specifically, this law applies to one key religious group: the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine. Immediately, the usual suspects on the American right condemned the move. What does the law really do, though? What necessitated the move, and why is it a warning call for Americans?
Let’s examine the five articles of the Ukrainian law entitled “On the protection of Constitutional order in the sphere of religious organizations activities.”
Article 1 clearly states, “No provision of this law may be interpreted as a restriction on the freedom of religion or belief, the right to observe religious practices, or perform religious rites and ceremonies.” Compare this to the First Amendment in the United States, which states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” What the U.S. defines broadly as not prohibiting religion, Ukraine defines more specifically by spelling out the wide range of religious activities allowed. They have different approaches but the same intent.
Next, Article 2 of the law states which activities are prohibited by religious organizations because a country has an obligation to protect its citizens from threats. The criteria include being “located in a state … committing armed aggression against Ukraine,” and “they directly or indirectly (including through public statements by their leaders or other governing bodies) support armed aggression against Ukraine.”
Compare this with the U.S. government ban on foreign terrorist organizations operating in other countries and whose leaders directly or indirectly call for violence and aggression against America.
The actions and statements of the leaders of al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS and Boko Haram have led to their designations as “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” and subsequent sanctions, travel bans, and freezing of assets. Let one attempt to distinguish between terrorist organizations and religious organizations. Keep in mind that all five of those terrorist organizations are not secular. They are inherently religious in their ideologies. Thus, religious organizations can also be terrorist organizations if they support the use of violence to achieve their objectives.
Article 3 of the Ukrainian law identifies the Russian Orthodox Church as “an accomplice in war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the name of the Russian Federation.” This part of the law is in response to the declaration of a “Holy War” by the Russian Orthodox Church against Ukraine in March 2024. The Russian church decree states that “the Special Military Operation is a Holy War, in which Russia and its people are defending the single spiritual space of Holy Russia.”
The talk of jihad is not incidental because Kirill, the Patriarch of the Russian Church, claims that Russian soldiers who die in Ukraine will have their sins “washed away.” This echoes the brainwashing rhetoric of Islamic terrorist organizations. The stark contrast between Kirill’s decree and the Commandment “thou shall not kill” could not be clearer.
It should also be noted that it took the Russian Church in Ukraine three months after the invasion to make any public attempt to distance itself from Moscow. Their church council then announced their “autonomy” from Moscow. However, this was a phony gesture because, under Orthodox canon law, only the Patriarch of Constantinople or the Russian Patriarch Kiril could grant such independence, and of course, neither did. Meanwhile, other Russian priests in Ukraine have not only supported the invasion enthusiastically but collaborated with the invading force, promoted propaganda calling for the genocide of Ukrainians, provided intelligence, performed acts of espionage, and committed acts of treason, which have led to the deaths of Ukrainians.
For example, Ukrainian authorities have discovered weapons caches in Russian churches in Kyiv and Kherson. In Kherson, the local priest took the Biblical story of money changers in the temple to the next level by becoming an arms dealer in the church! Other priests have helped the Russian invaders commit acts of terrorism by sharing information about the location of both Ukrainian civilians and the military. Arms dealing, terrorism, and treason would not be tolerated in the United States by any religious confession, even during peacetime. That is why Ukraine has the sovereign right to prohibit and prosecute such actions during wartime.
Article 4 of the Ukrainian law prescribes the equivalent of financial sanctions and the confiscation of assets, similar to what the G7 nations have done with Russian assets in Western banks. Unlike Western sanctions and asset freezes, which were immediate, though, the Ukrainian gives a nine-month grace window for the Russian Church to come into compliance. Compliance, in this case, means avoidance of acts of aggression against Ukraine and a one-sentence public statement in the organization’s statutory documents that they reject allegiance to the Russian Orthodox Church led by Moscow. In other words, they reject terrorism as a means of their beliefs. It should be noted that parishioners are unaffected by this law and will continue practicing their beliefs and ceremonies. No provisions require conversion, renouncing one’s faith, or acting against one’s conscience. However, violence and terrorism will not be tolerated.
Finally, Article 5 describes the legal procedures, rights and processes. Any church accused of collaboration with the invading army and/or acts of terrorism shall have due process, and a formal investigation will ensue. A mere accusation is not sufficient for conviction.
Ukraine’s actions also coincide with U.S. concerns. That is why, in the spring of 2023, the FBI issued a notification entitled, “Russian Intelligence Services Victimize Russian Orthodox Church and other Eastern Orthodox Churches.” The notification alerted Orthodox churches in the United States to the threat of espionage from Moscow church officials. It is already known from Soviet archives that the Patriarch Kirill was a KGB agent. As the adage says, “a fish rots from the head,” and if the head of the Russian church is an agent of the Russian security services, it’s logical that other church officials would also perform such work – especially those based in the United States.
Keep in mind that Kirill’s “Holy War” decree accuses the West of “falling into Satanism.” The Russian jihad against Ukraine is merely the first step to a wider war against the West. As Gary Marx, President of Defenders of Faith and Religious Freedom in Ukraine, wrote in the Washington Times last month, “Russia has weaponized the Christian religion to create its own Kremlin-directed, Orthodox jihad.” What better way to prepare for war against Americans than through the unassuming vehicle of the church?
The Ukrainian prohibition on subversion activities and terrorism by the Russian Orthodox Church is in keeping with international practices and U.S. government policies. The FBI notification is a warning call to the American public about the Russian Orthodox Church’s true purposes and activities in the United States. Americans would be wise to heed Ukraine’s wakeup call to avoid being “sheep in the midst of wolves. “
• Brian Mefford is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, based in Kyiv, Ukraine and a former Resident Program Officer in Ukraine for the International Republican Institute.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.